After fielding offers from Silicon Valley's top VCs and very
generous valuations, why hasn't Foursquare announced funding yet?

Why is Facebook still waiting to launch its now-confirmed
"check-in" feature?

Are the two companies talking partnership? Merger?

The possibilities are tantalizing, especially because we think if
Foursquare really wants to sell, Facebook would be its best
buyer.

We're also pretty sure Facebook has interest in Foursquare at the
right price. Remember, a few months ago there were some rumors
that Facebook kicked the tires on Foursquare rival Gowalla.

And we're not the only ones assuming Foursquare would go to
Facebook for the right price. A couple weeks ago, a VC who at one
point wanted in on Foursquare told us he was sure Dennis would
sell the company to Facebook because CEO Mark Zuckerberg is
"someone he admires."

Another reason Dennis might sell to Facebook, even though he
wouldn't sell to others (like
Yahoo or Google), is that Facebook seems to be pretty good at
putting the people it brings in through acquisitions into
positions where they have an impact on their new company.

The guys who who came to Facebook through its acquisition of
FriendFeed are now deeply involved in crafting Facebook product.

Finally, a Facebook-Foursquare merger just makes product sense.
The type of people users are "friends" with on Facebook are a lot
like the type of people they're "friends" with on Foursquare.

One reason to suspect a merger is not in the works is that we
doubt Foursquare would survive as a standalone company after a
Facebook merger. Dennis sold a company to a larger rival only to
see his startup disappear, so maybe he's not in the mood to do
that again.

(A strong counter-point: Dennis didn't sell that last company,
Dodgeball, to Google for very much at all. $5 million? Selling to
Facebook would make him rich AND allow him to impact a still
growing company.)